When you think of all the qualities, abilities, and traits you want in an employee, at the root it boils down to two things: Right People and Right Seats.
This was a term popularized in the ’90s by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. But what does he mean? Let’s make it a bit more tangible.
Right Peopleare people that fit your company culture like a glove. This gets clarified by identifying the company’s core values, the 3 to 7 characteristics that define the company culture.
The job of a leader and manager is to make sure that 100% of your people are Right People who consistently exhibit your core values.
Right Seatson the other hand, is about ensuring that the person you hired for the job has what it takes to consistently perform at a high level.
Here is a great tool you can use to always ensure your people are sitting in the Right Seat: it’s called GWC. It stands for Gets it, Wants it, and has the Capacity to do it.
Take a look at the roles and responsibilities for that seat/job, look at the person you’d like to put in that seat, and ask yourself: Do they get it? Do they want it? Do they have the capacity to do it? If any answer is “no” they are in the wrong seat.
Always make sure all your people are Right People sitting in the Right Seats.
One more key point: when you feel like you have a people issue, it’s so easy to overcomplicate it. But in fact, if you really dig deep, the root cause will be one of two things: either Wrong Person or Wrong Seat.
Think of your biggest people headache right now: is it a culture fit issue, or a role fit issue? Identifying it, is your first step.
Have a great day!
